If you like to take a drink now and again get ready to be paying more for it each year.
An automatic escalating excise tax on spirits, wine and beer will mean bar owners and eventually bar patrons could be paying a lot more for that libation.
The Not On My Tab campaign is underway and Jan Westcott, President and CEO of Spirits Canada is in Saint John tonight to talk about it. Westcott says when you purchase a bottle of spirits at the liquor store, 80 percent of the cost goes to the feds in taxes and he says enough is enough.
” When they see these tax increases, they just can’t afford to pass them along consumers will go someplace else and their consumers will stop coming, so they lose patrons, they shrink their businesses and start laying people off and may not hire servers,” stated Westcott.
The campaign is calling for people to contact their MP and tell them they do not support this automatic tax increase without it going to the House of Commons for debate.
Westcott was in Fredericton on Tuesday and will be at the Social Bar Steakhouse in Saint John at 6:30 this evening and on Thursday he will be in Dieppe.
